Police say the boy took two of the pills, and then shared them with the three other kids. Two students also took two pills, but according to police one of the girls took 15 of the tablets, enough Oxycontin to kill. She was admitted overnight and had to have her stomach pumped to get the…

Based on a new report launched by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, the parental engagement fostered during frequent family dinners is an effective tool to help keep America’s kids substance free. http://www.gothenburgtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1915:study-family-dinners-help-prevent-teen-drug-use&catid=1:local&Itemid=2

More kids and teens are smoking marijuana at younger ages, according to data collected by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. From 2008 to 2009, there was a 9 percent increase – to 7.3 percent of people age 12 or older – who currently use marijuana. The human brain is still developing throughout…

Researchers from the University of Kentucky surveyed 17,872 teens aged 12 to 17; about half of the kids lived in an urban setting and 17% lived in rural environs. The study found that 10% of city teens said they had experimented with prescription drugs they didn’t need, and 13% of rural kids reported doing the…

INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis is quickly becoming a major heroin hub in the Midwest, police said, with more Hoosiers using the deadly drug than ever before. Indianapolis police Sgt. Steve Swarm, a 25-year veteran with the department’s narcotics division, said heroin use in Indianapolis has surged 300 percent in the past three years, 6News’ Jack Rinehart…

Britain is the cocaine capital of Europe after use among young adults increased by half in just five years. Prevalence of the Class A drug is higher in England and Wales than anywhere on the continent and use among 15 to 34-year-olds is even greater than the United States. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8123292/UK-is-cocaine-capital-of-Europe.html

Eight middle schools students were taken to the hospital Thursday after eating a chocolate bar that contained an unknown substance. School officials from George Washington Carver Middle School said that the students, who are all between 11 and 13 years old, were ill after consuming the treat. Early paramedic reports had indicated that marijuana brownies…

Federal authorities discovered a tunnel linking drug warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana that led to the seizure of more than 25 tons of marijuana, one of the largest-ever drug seizures in San Diego, officials said. The 1,800-foot transnational passageway — roughly equivalent to six football fields in length — isn’t the longest or the…

Mr. Llewellyn is part of a wave of laboratory-adept European entrepreneurs who see gold in the gray zone between legal and illegal drugs. They pose a stiff challenge for European law-enforcement, which is struggling to keep up with all the new concoctions. Last year, 24 new “psychoactive substances” were identified in Europe, almost double the…